In this section

CAPEL

The parish of Capel is bounded on the north by
Dorking, of which it was formerly a part, on the east
by Leigh and Newdigate, on the south by the county
of Sussex, on the west by Wotton and Ockley. A
part of Capel lying across the north of Ockley separates that parish from Dorking. The body of Capel
parish is 4 miles from north to south and 1½ miles
east to west, but this projecting tongue makes the
breadth at the north end 3 miles. It contains
5,680 acres of land and 15 of water. The soil of
the greater part is Wealden Clay, but the north-west
part abuts upon the high Green Sands of Leith Hill
and Coldharbour Common, rising to 900ft. above
the sea. In this part of the parish there was a landslip in the reign of Elizabeth, recorded by Camden
and Aubrey, when the sand slipped upon the underlying clay and made a precipitous scar in the side of
the hill, even now visible for many miles from the
southward. The place was called Constable's Mosses;
Constable resided at a farm still called Mosses. The
road running under or across this landslip from Coldharbour to Leith Hill—since 1896 a public road,
before that date private (though a public footpath
existed and a public bridle-track crossed it)— is called
Cockshott's Road, from a farm at the end of it; and
may fairly claim to be among the most picturesque
roads in the south of England. The road slipped
again badly about 1866. Capel parish is traversed
by the main road from Dorking to Horsham, made
in 1755, and the northern part by the old road from
London to Arundel through Coldharbour, diverted
since 1896 in its course from Coldharbour Common
towards Ockley as a part of the transactions for opening Cockshott's Road. The London, Brighton, and
South Coast Railway line to Portsmouth passes through
the parish, in which lies Holmwood Station, opened
in 1867. The parish is agricultural except for small
brick and tile works. There are open commons at Beare
Green, Misbrook's Green, Clark's Green, and Coldharbour Common or Mosses' Hill, so called from the
farm mentioned above. Many small pieces of waste were
brought into cultivation early in the 19th century.

There is one conspicuous work of antiquity in the
parish now. On the hill called Anstiebury, formerly
Hanstiebury, above Coldharbour, 800 ft. above the
sea—taken from Dorking and added to Capel by the
Local Government Act of 1894—is a fine prehistoric
fortification. A nearly circular top of a hill has been
surrounded by banks and ditches, triple upon the
most exposed sides, but probably never more than
single and now completely obliterated for a short
space on the south, where the slope is nearly perpendicular, and where some old digging for sandstone
seems to have gone on. The space inside the inner
bank is about 11 acres, the shape an ellipse, roughly
speaking. The hill is thickly planted. Mr. Walters,
of Bury Hill, Dorking, owned it and began the
planting which makes the shape of the works harder
to see, in summer time especially. There is a damp
spot inside where a water supply might have been
found, and a good water supply in a shallow well
in a cottage garden close outside it. The entrance to
the north-east, where a grass road comes through the
banks, is not the original entrance, but was made
when part of the interior was cultivated, after
Mr. Walters' time, for access by carts. The entrance
was more probably on the north side, nearly opposite
the gate which leads into the wood from Anstie Lane.
A path here crosses the banks diagonally, flanked in
its course by the innermost bank, here higher than
elsewhere. Flint arrow-heads are said to have been
found in or near the works, and also coins near it,
but exact records are lacking.

The work is the largest of its kind in Surrey, next
to the inclosure on St. George's Hill.

Anstie Farm, north-east of the hill on the high
ground, (fn. 1) still held of the manor of Milton, is no
doubt Hanstega, held of that manor in 1086, but it is in
Dorking parish, not Capel. The land reached down
to the Roman road eastward, and to the old road from
Dorking westward. Either might be the 'highway'
which probably named the place.

The Stone Street enters Capel close by Buckinghill Farm and leaves it close to Anstie Grange Farm.
It has been traced for the entire length in the parish,
and excavated by the writer. Two or three feet of
the centre of the causeway were found intact in the
ground, made of flints set in cement, as hard as a
wall. It is unused now throughout, except for a very
few yards near Beare, where it coincides with a private
road. In the field opposite Beare its course is very
visible. It goes up the hill in the copse called Round
Woods in a slight cutting; it leaves the new house
called Minnick Fold on the right and Minnick Wood
Farm on the left. It was excavated in Perry Field,
the field beyond, which was not cultivated until
after 1824.

Capel was the old Waldeburgh or Waleburgh
borough of Dorking; the borough or tithing in the
Weald. It was a chapelry of Dorking till late 13th
or early 14th century. (fn. 2)

The (National) school was built in 1826 and
enlarged in 1872.

There is a Wesleyan chapel, and a Friends' meeting house.

The Society of Friends was early established, and is
still well represented in Capel. The Bax family, who
lived at Pleystowe and Kitlands at opposite ends of
the parish, were among Fox's earliest converts, and
are often mentioned in his Journal. The Steeres and
Constables were other families of Friends. At Pleystowe a meeting was held which was as old as any in
the county; a burying-ground was made on Richard
Bax's ground there in 1672. The meeting house
in Capel was built in 1725. (fn. 3)

There are a number of important old houses in
and around the parish. One of these is still called
Temple Elfande, or Elfold. The name belonged to a
manor of the Templars transferred to the Hospitallers
which had no preceptory attached. (fn. 4) The name Tournament Field, and other such names occurring in the
18th-century leases, are most likely an invention of
the Cowpers in the 17th century. For tournaments,
always forbidden by law, would not have been
habitually held at a small preceptory, had there been
one here, of which there is no evidence. The
present house is in substance of mid-16th-century
date, and was built by Sir Richard Cowper. It
is built of narrow red bricks and half-timber work,
chiefly covered with tile-hanging, and with stone
slabs on the roofs, and was evidently much larger
at one time, as, besides an entire wing, now long
since pulled down, foundations of out-buildings and
of garden and courtyard walls are met with in
digging. A curious feature outside is a cross-shaped
loophole over the front entrance. Some excellent
and rare encaustic tiles, 55/8 in. square, have been
dug up lately on the site, the patterns of which help
to give the date of the house as not long after 1541.
The character of the older chalk fireplaces inside confirms this date. There are also the usual farm-house
fireplace, with a great beam over the opening, of
great width and depth, several large carved oak
brackets supporting the beam-ends of the upper
stories, the pilasters of a stone doorway, and many
original doors of good design, besides panelling of
several dates. The loftiness of some of the rooms
on the first floor is noteworthy, as are the coved or
cradled plaster ceilings of the upper passages. It had
for long sunk to the position of a mere farm-house
before passing into the hands of the present tenant,
Captain Harrison, R.N.

Aldhurst Farm, rather nearer to the village, is
another ancient house, although of less consideration.
It has evidently been extended and partially rebuilt
more than once, but the nucleus is still that of an
early 16th-century timber house, with very low ceilings and stone-slab roof. Inside, an old staircase and
some good doors are to be seen. In the wooded
bottom to the south-west several fine footprints of the
iguanodon were found in grubbing up trees some years
ago, and are now preserved here.

Taylor's is a picturesque house still retaining as
a nucleus the timber open-roofed hall of mid-14th-century date, and also an oak screen of roughly
gouged-out timbers and moulded beams of the same
exceptionally early date. There are good panelled
rooms of later date, and the 15th, 16th, and 17th-century additions all present interesting features.
Externally most of the timber construction is masked
by modern tile hanging.

Greenes is another ancient house, once much
larger, and still showing a timber hall about 18 ft.
wide internally, divided up at a later date into floors,
but still boasting some fine massive oak trusses and
story-posts, with moulded arched braces and king-posts
over. A smaller hall, about 15 ft. wide, detached
from the other, and now used as a stable, appears to
be but a fragment of a range of timber buildings. It
also has a series of huge roof-trusses of king-post
construction and arched braces of four-centred shape.
These two halls appear to be of late 14th-century and
early 15th-century date respectively.

Osbrooks, formerly Holbrooks and Upbrooks, after
passing through the farm-house stage, has of late
years been carefully restored, and now presents a
most interesting example of the country gentleman's house of the end of the 16th or an early
part of the 17th century. It is mostly of timber
framing, filled in with herring-bone brickwork. Its
tiled roofs and good groups of chimneys, the many
gables with their barge-boards, the mullioned windows, and the porch with open balustrades to the
sides, combine to produce, with the wooded glen and
winding stream in the rear, a most picturesque whole.

Bonet's or Bonnet's Farm is another ancient house
of quite exceptional beauty and interest, although
shorn of its ancient proportions. The present front
has been modernized, but in the rear are two fine
gables, projecting with brackets over the ground and
first floors. These show timber framing, with an
oriel window, stone-slab roofs, leaded glazing, and
two exceptionally good brick chimneys.

Other old farm-houses and cottages in the parish,
such as Pleystowe and Ridge, are well worthy of
examination for the features of antiquity to be
found in them; and in Capel village a picturesque
piece of half-timber work, with a good chimney
and roof, may be noted among others. There
are now two old inns—the Crown Inn, originally a farm-house, adjoining the churchyard on the
south, and the 'King's Head.' The former has
half-timber gables, with pendants at the apex of the
barge-boards, on one of which is carved 'W S. 1687.'

Broomells is now a new house. The name, as
Brome, occurs in a charter of the 13th century. (fn. 5)
It is not to be confounded with Broome Hall, the
seat of Sir A. Hargreaves Brown, bart. The latter
large house, in a commanding situation under Leith
Hill, was mainly built by Mr. Andrew Spottiswoode,
the king's printer, circa 1830. It was afterwards the
seat of Mr. Labouchere, and then of Mr. Pennington,
M.P. for Stockport. Sir A. Hargreaves Brown made
extensive additions to it. It used to be called Lower
House, but it is mentioned by Aubrey as Broomhall.

Kitlands, the property of Mr. A. R. Heath, is on
the site of a farm which is mentioned in the Court
Rolls in 1437. The house was reconstructed by
degrees by Mr. Serjeant Heath, who bought it in
1824, and by Mr. D. D. Heath, his son, uncle
to the present owner. But part of the interior is the
old timber building of circa 1500. The place was
held by the Bax family from 1622 to 1824, a very
unusually long tenure of the same farm by a yeoman
family, notwithstanding many vague statements of
other immemorial holdings.

Arnolds, formerly called Arnold's Beare, was rebuilt
by Mr. Bayley in 1885. Mrs. Bayley, his widow,
has recently sold it. The Arnolds were also landholders in Betchworth. Beare, now called Bearehurst, the seat of Mr. Longman, and Beare Green, near
Holmwood Station, show that the name Beare, which
occurs in the Court Rolls of the 14th century, was
widely spread. A Walter de la Bere had land in
Ewekene (Capel) in 1263. (fn. 6)

Lyne House, the seat of Mr. Evelyn Broadwood,
is a property bought by Mr. James Tschudi Broadwood circa 1792.

On the border, within a few yards of Sussex, is
Shiremark Mill, built in 1774 out of the materials
of the old Manor Mill at Mill House on Clark's
Farm. (fn. 7)

Coldharbour is an ecclesiastical district formed in
1850. The church and the principal cluster of cottages stand in Capel parish. The body of the village
is still called The Harbour, but Crocker's Farm and
the cottages opposite used to be called Little Anstie,
as opposed to Anstie Farm (vide supra).

The church is higher above the sea than any other
in Surrey—over 800 ft.—and the sea is visible from
the churchyard, through Shoreham Gap. The old
road from London to Arundel ran through Coldharbour. The original line below the church was in
the ravine at the lower side of the common, quite
impassable for wheels. In the old title deeds it is
referred to as the King's High Way. The village is
as picturesque as any in England. On a stone in a
cottage wall, in Rowmount, are the initials 'J. C.
(John Constable) 1562.' The stone has been placed
in a later wall. Constable's Farm was the house on
the road a few yards higher up the hill, which may
very well date from before that time.

The endowed school was founded by Mr. Robert
Barclay of Bury Hill before 1819, with £50 a year
from Government stock. It was further supported
by subscriptions, and enlarged in 1846, 1851, 1860,
and 1888. It was a free school from the beginning,
but the endowment used to provide not only pay for
the teacher, but a gown and bonnet for the girls, and
smock-frock and boots for the boys annually. The
infant school was built by Mr. John Labouchere in
1851. It was endowed by his family after his death
in 1862. It is now brought under one management
with the endowed school.

MANORS

CAPEL was, and is, for the most part,
in the manor of Dorking, though it also
extends into Milton Manor. Parochially
it was all included in Dorking.

From a suit in 1279 it appears that in the reign of
Henry III John de Elefold had granted lands in Capel
to the Master of the Templars in England, and his
son Thomas in that year withdrew from an attempt to
recover them. (fn. 8) In 1308, when
the Templars' lands were seized,
Temple Elfold was among
them. (fn. 9) The land was known
later as the manor of TEMPLE
ELFANDE. With the rest
of the Templars' lands it passed
to the Knights of St. John of
Jerusalem, in accordance with
a suggestion made by Pope
John XXII. (fn. 10) The Chartulary of St. John of Jerusalem (fn. 11) describes it in 1308
as held of the Earl of Warenne, but no service was
done and no ecclesiastical benefice was supported by
it. There was a house, and the total value was
£4 11s. 2d. a year. It remained with the Knights
of St. John till the dissolution of the order, 1539,
when it appears as Temple Elphaud, in Surrey. (fn. 12)

Knights of St. John. Gules a cross argent.

After the Dissolution it was granted to John
Williams and Antony Stringer, who conveyed almost
immediately to William Cowper (fn. 13) of London, who
also held land at Horley and in Charlwood, Surrey.

The Cowper, or (more usually) Cooper, family continued
to hold for nearly two centuries.
In March 1590–1 John Cowper, serjeant-at-law, the son of
William Cowper, died, seised
of a capital messuage in Capel
called Temple Elephant. (fn. 14) In
the next year John's brother
Richard, who had the reversion
of the estate after the death
of John's widow Julian, who
survived Richard, (fn. 15) also died,
leaving Richard his son and
heir, who was then aged eighteen. (fn. 16) The younger Richard,
afterwards knighted, (fn. 17) married, first, Elizabeth Young,
to whose father Richard the elder had mortgaged
Temple Elfold, and secondly, Elizabeth daughter of
Sir Thomas Gresham. He died seised in 1625. (fn. 18)

Cowper of Temple Elfande. Argent a bend engrailed between two lions sable with three roundels argent on the bend.

His son Richard Cowper or Cooper settled Temple
Elfold on Barbara Miller his wife, on his marriage in
1646. She died without issue the same year, and
Richard resettled the estate on his second wife Sarah
Knightley, in 1647. His son and heir by her, John,
settled it on his marriage with Elizabeth Lewin in
1671. (fn. 19) Their son John sold
it to Ezra Gill of Eashing
in 1728. (fn. 20) Ezra Gill settled
the manor, manor-house, and
park of 144 acres, on 16 April
1729, in anticipation of his
marriage with Mary Woods, (fn. 21)
who died 1767, when the
estate passed to her son William Gill. He died in 1815,
and was succeeded by his brother Henry Streeter Gill, who
died in 1818. (fn. 22) His daughter
married J. H. Frankland, who
assumed the name of Gill.
They sold Temple Elfold in
1833 to Mr. James Tschudi Broadwood of Lyne
Capel, whose great-grandson is the present owner.

Broadwood of Capel. Ermine two pales vairy or and gules and a chief vert with a ring between two fir trees torn up by the roots or therein.

The reputed manor of HENFOLD in Capel
appears first in the reign of Henry VIII. In 1511
and 1512 the manor of Aglondes More and Henfold, in East Betchworth, Buckland, and Capel, was
conveyed by Robert Gaynsford to Sir Henry Wyatt. (fn. 23)
This was Sir Henry Wyatt, father to Sir Thomas
Wyatt the poet, who in 1540 conveyed it to Robert
Young. (fn. 24) Robert died seised of it in 1548, leaving
his grandson John, then nine years old, to succeed
him. (fn. 25) John died in 1629, leaving a son and heir
William, (fn. 26) who succeeded him. Henfold, however, was
probably not a real manor. In 1776 in a court roll of
the manor of West Betchworth, and again in 1823,
Henfold is mentioned as in the manor, being broken
up into several holdings. The name Aglondes More
has disappeared. The house called Henfold, in Capel,
is the seat of Mrs. Farnell Watson, and is in the manor
of West Betchworth. (fn. 27)

CHURCHES

The church of St. John the Baptist
(until the early part of the 16th century dedicated in honour of St. Lawrence) stands on the west of the main road that
runs north and south through the village, and
opposite to the road that forks off to the east in the
direction of Temple Elfold. It is on somewhat
elevated ground, although the surrounding country is
flat, and commands pretty and extensive views of
wooded and pastoral scenery. The churchyard,
bounded on the east and south by a stone wall, is
entered through a modern lych-gate, and also by a stone
stile, ancient at least in idea. A great slab near it
bears the ripple-marks which are often met with in
this locality. The path to the south door is of stone
flags. There is a fine old yew, and also a number of
cypresses, and among the gravestones are many of the
17th and 18th centuries.

Until its enlargement in 1865 the church presented
a very good example of the hamlet-chapel of the late
12th or early 13th century. (fn. 28) Even now, in spite of
a new aisle, vestries, and organ-chamber on the north
side, and other modern alterations, its ancient proportions and character can be made out without much
difficulty. It consisted originally of a nave, 42 ft. 3 in.
long by 22 ft. 9 in. broad, with a western porch, and
a chancel 25 ft. long by 15 ft. 9 in. in width, with
roofs of comparatively low pitch on account of the
exceptional breadth of the nave, and a timber-framed
bell-turret at the west end, terminating in a short oakshingled spire. The roofs were covered with Horsham
slabs, and the walls were built of local hard sandstone
rubble, plastered, with dressings of hard chalk and
fire-stone from the neighbouring hills. Cracklow's
view of 1824 shows the church in this state, with the
three lancet windows in the south wall of the chancel
and the curious diagonal buttresses at the angles of
the nave. The chancel had a wooden-framed east
window under a circular head; there was no porch
to the south door (which was the same as the present), the spire of the bell-turret was not so tapering
as now, and a curious late vestry is shown attached to
the south side of the west porch. As to the nave
windows, what appears to be the base of an original
lancet is shown to the west of the old south door,
and above it a wooden three-light opening, evidently
made to light the western gallery, while to the east of
the doorway is another three-light window, with a
square hood moulding, which looks like a 16th-century
insertion.

With regard to the north and west sides of the
building, not shown in Cracklow's view, it is not
difficult to reconstruct the plan on paper with the aid
of the features still remaining in the actual church.
The massive west wall, no less than 4 ft. thick,
remains much as it was erected about 1190. The
other walls of the nave are 3 ft. in thickness, and
those of the chancel 2 ft. 9 in., both dimensions being
exceptional for a comparatively small aisleless building.
Originally the church had no buttresses, and it seems
probable that it was lighted by three lancet windows
on the north side of the nave and two on its southern
side, of which now no trace remains, the present
windows being all modern. The west and south
doorways are original features, and most interesting.
We cannot now say if there was the usual north doorway in the nave, as the aisle of 1865 has made a
clean sweep of any such ancient features, but it seems
improbable that there would be three doors in such a
comparatively small building. The two that remain
are interesting, the western being slightly the
narrower— 3 ft. 6 in. wide, while the southern
measures 3 ft. 10½ in. The height of the internal
opening of the western, which has a semicircular
head, is altogether exceptional, nearly 12 ft. The
external arch is set much lower, leaving that peculiar
tympanum between the two heads so often met with,
and the reason for which is one of the minor problems
of ecclesiology. Sometimes, as at Trotton Church,
Sussex, a consecration cross has been found painted
in this blank space. These doorways also have the
additional peculiarity that the two apex stones of the
external arches are left as projecting blocks on the
inside, as though meant to be carved. This is found
also in the south doorway of Wanborough Chapel,
in the west of the county. (fn. 29) Both the west and south
doorways are in hard clunch, or fire-stone, somewhat
sharply pointed, and of one order. They have hoodmouldings, without stops or return ends at the
springings, of three sides of an octagon in section, the
inner side being embellished with a continuous border
of dog-tooth ornament. The original tooling, where
left, shows somewhat coarse vertical and diagonal
lines, done with the broad chisel and axe. The
effect of these severely simple but well-proportioned
doorways is enhanced by their retaining their original
wrought-iron strap-hinges, both lower and upper
hinges having two small ornamental straps with curled
ends on either side of them. The hinge-straps themselves terminate in similar scrolls. The latch and
drop-ring handle of the western door appears to be
old also, and are perhaps original. Although the
boarding on which this ironwork is mounted is modern,
the plain ledges across the backs appear to be old.
There are three steps down into the church at the
west end and two at the south door; the latter is set
to the east of the centre of the nave, instead of to the
west.

The original chancel arch has disappeared, and its
place has been taken by a wider one of early 14th-century design in fire-stone, which appears to be
modern. We may surmise that the ancient arch had
square jambs, and resembled in design the two doorways. The present tracery window in the east wall
is also entirely modern, and replaces the wood-framed
opening of the churchwarden era, shown in Cracklow's
view, which latter, in all probability, displaced two
lancet openings of the same character as those in the
side walls. There were probably three of these in
either wall, but those on the north side have been
destroyed in making the organ chamber and vestries.
The three lancets in the south wall of the chancel are
the only original windows left in the church. They
are very interesting examples of their period (c. 1190),
and have happily passed unscathed through the ordeal
of restoration. Like the rest of the original ashlaring,
their dressings are worked in clunch and firestone.
They have sharply-pointed heads to the external
openings, the curves being so slight as almost to
present the appearance of straight lines, (fn. 30) and are
rebated both inside and out, which implies that the
glazing was originally placed against the outer rebate
(instead of, as now, in a groove), and that the inner
rebate was occupied by a shutter. It is not often
that this double rebate is found. The internal heads
are splayed equally with the jambs and are almost
semicircular in outline, the point of the arch being so
slight as to be unnoticeable.

Beneath the easternmost lancet is a pretty little
piscina of the same period. It has a segmental head
beneath a blind trefoil arch of horse-shoe outline,
The drain has a small circular dishing. The aumbry,
of similar form, in the opposite wall is modern. In
about 1300 diagonal buttresses with gabled cappingstones were added to the angles of the nave. To the
same period belongs the western porch, so far as its
walls are concerned. The doorway, with its pointed
segmental head, and the square loophole in the
northern wall, are of this date, but the remarkable roof
is a survival of the original timber porch, the walls
being built anew, probably because of the exposed
situation. Each separate rafter is shaped as a bold
horseshoe trefoil, as though built for a barge board.
There is something very suggestive of Saracenic art in
the whole look of this roof.

Of the original font, the Sussex marble base alone
remains, being built in against the nave wall, west of
the south porch. It shows the common arrangement
of four angle shafts and a central drum, through
which the drain was pierced, the latter making a large
hole in the base. Doubtless the bowl was of square
form, with perhaps a shallow arcade cut round the
sides, according to the common type, of which so
many examples remain in the home counties. (fn. 31) The
modern font is made of serpentine, with some little
carving and gilding.

The roofs of the chancel and nave are both
ancient, and possibly coeval with the original building. They are of trussed collar construction, with
massive tie-beams and wall plates, the latter being of
enormous scantling, and worked with double hollows
in the chancel, exactly the same as at West Clandon
chancel. The posts and beams of the timber bellturret, and its carved braces, appear to have been
partially renewed. The copings to the gables are
modern.

In pre-Reformation wills an altar of our Lady and
an image of the same are specified. This altar was
probably on the south of the chancel arch on the
nave side. An image of St. Lawrence (and probably
an altar) stood in the chancel.

To the south wall of the chancel are affixed two
monuments of some interest, the eastern being that
of John Cowper and his wife, date 1590. It is composed of alabaster, with panels of black marble, on
which is cut the inscription, the whole retaining
the original colouring in a very perfect state. At
the apex, within a circular disc, is a shield of Cowper
impaling argent a fesse between three trefoils sable,
which are the arms of Blackdenn. This shield
is festooned with twisted red ribbons, and stands
within a broken pediment, beneath which and an
entablature bordered by black marble columns is a
circular arch. Within this are the kneeling figures
of John Cowper and his wife, facing each other at a
fald-stool of graceful design, on which are prayerbooks. The husband is represented in the scarlet
robe of a serjeant-at-law, with a coif and a cloak
over his shoulder. The wife's figure, kneeling on a
cushion, in the ruff, stomacher, and fardingale of the
period, is uncoloured— probably an indication that
the monument was put up during her widowhood,
and that thus the effigy was not completed as to
colouring by her descendants. The inscription in
the two panels reads:—
HEARE LYETH[e] BVRYED NEER TO THIS MON[ume]NT
IOHN COWPER LATE SERIEANT AT LAWE DECEASED WHO
WAS BORNE AT HORLYE IN YE COVNTY OF SVRREY IN
AO DO: 1539. & AT HIS AGE OF 26 YEARS TOKE TO
WIEFE IVLYAN THE DAVGTER OF CVTHBERT BLACKDENN
ESQUIOR AND THEN BEGAN TO STVDDY THE COM[m]ON LAWE
IN THE INNER TEMPLE AND THER C[ont]INVED 24 YEARES
WHICH TIME HE SPENT IN THIS MANNER. 8 . YEARES
VNDER THE BARR . 8 . YEARS AT THE BARR . AND . 8
. YEARS AT THE BENCHE AND THEN WAS CALLED TO BE
SERIEANT AT THE LAWE IN WCH DEGREE HE CONTYN[u]ED
ONE YEARE AND A HAVLFE AND THEN ENDED HIS LIEFE
THE 15 DAYE OF MARCHE AO 1590, BEING THEN OF THE
AGE OF . 51 . YEARS.
NEC PRIMVS NEC VLTIMVS MVLTI
ANTECESSERVNT ET OMNES SEQVENTVR.

Below the inscription panels is an apron of scrollwork in alabaster.

The other monument, to the westward, is also
finely designed, according to its period, and is in
Sicilian marble, with Corinthian columns and pediment, having at top a cartouche, bearing the family
arms, and over it the crest of a black lion holding a
silver tilting-spear. The inscription is as follows:—
"Underneath lyeth the body of ROBT COWPER late of
London, Gent. a younger son of RICHARD COWPER late
of Temple Elfont, Esqr (by sarah Eldest daughter of
wm knightley late of Kingston Esqr.) who was son &
Heir of SR RICHARD COWPER Knt, by dame ELIZ. 2d
Daughter of SR THOMAS GRESHAM KNT He Dyed Ye
23d of may 1720, In the 65th year of his Age. To
whose Memory this Monumt was Erected by his
3 Neices, the Daughters & Coheirs of RICHARD
COWPER late of London Gent. Vizt Sarah the Eldest
Daughter Wife of John Vincent of Hampstead in the
County of Middx Brewer, Mary ye 2d Daughter, wife
of Henry Ashton of Hackney in ye same County of
Midd. Gent. and Hannah the youngest Daughter wife
of RICHARD DAWSON of Lambeth in the County of
Surry Glass maker."

In addition to these monuments, Manning and
Bray give the following:—

'On a brass plate in capitals':—

'HERE LYETH THE BODY OF DAME ELIZABETH, THE
SECOND DAUGHTER OF SIR THOMAS GRESHAM OF LYMSFEILD IN THE COUNTY OF SURREY, KNT., AND WIFE OF
SIR RICHARD COWPER OF CAPEL IN THE SAID COUNTY,
KNT. SHEE DECEASED THE XXTH OF AUGUST ANNO
DOMINI 1633.'

'On a brass plate, on a gravestone, in capitals':—

'HERE LYETH INTERRED THE BODY OF SARAH COWPER,
WIFE OF RICHARD COWPER, OF TEMPLE ELFANT IN SURREY,
ESQ., ELDEST DAUGHTER OF WILLIAM KNIGHTLEY OF
KINGSTONE-UPON-THAMES, ESQ., HAVING HAD ISSUE SEAVEN
SONNES & ONE DAUGHTER, AND DECEASED THE 3D DAY OF
NOVEMBER IN THE 38TH YEAR OF HER AGE, ANNO DOMINI
1662.'

'On a black marble grave-stone in the chancel in
capitals, is this inscription':—

'SARAH, DAUGHTER OF JOHN COWPER ESQ., AGED 9
MONTHS. DIED THE 22D AUGUST 1676.'

'On the floor':—

'WILLIAM HEWITT, 1760.'

There are no remains of ancient wall paintings or
glass, but in the nave, chancel, and north aisle are
many modern stained glass windows, by Clayton &
Bell and other firms, some very good (as in the aisle
and the side windows of the chancel), others of poor
quality. The seating, pulpit, reredos, and other
fittings are all also modern, but in the vestry are preserved a number of carved pew doors, of 17th-century
date, worked up into a cupboard; also a wrought
iron hour-glass stand.

The registers date from 1653.

Among the plate is a two-handled cup, of date
about 1655, evidently a porringer, and very similar in
design and size to one in use as a communion cup at
Winterborne Whitchurch, Dorset, which is dated
1653. There is some repoussé ornamentation in
circles on the bowl, with traces of gilding, and the
handles are S-shaped. Beneath the foot is engraved
a Tudor rose within a beaded circle. The bowl has
at some time been soldered to the foot, which
was probably higher originally. There are patens
of 1781 and 1786, some modern pieces; and a
pewter plate bearing (1) the name RICHARD KING, and
devices of two bears or badgers flanked by fluted
columns; (2) a crowned rose, with a word beginning
'GRA . .'; and (3), S OVER EE.

Of the six bells two are 19th century, two are by
Thomas Mears, and dated 1797, and no. 4 and 5
bear the following inscriptions respectively:—

'OUR HOPE IS IN THE LORD R.E. 1605,' and 'OMNIA
HABENT FINEM R.E. 1593,'
the initials in both cases being those of Richard
Eldridge, a well-known Surrey founder.

CHRIST CHURCH, COLDHARBOUR

CHRIST CHURCH, COLDHARBOUR, was built
in 1848 at the expense of Mr. Labouchere, of Broome
Hall. The Duke of Norfolk gave the ground in the
waste of the manor. It has a plain nave and chancel
in 13th-century style, with rather a fine pointed arch
between them. The church is of local stone, with
chalk dressings. There is a stone bell-turret on the
west end. It was refitted, and an organ chamber
added in 1904 by Sir A. Hargreaves Brown in
memory of his mother. The heads on the corbels at
the spring of the arch over the east window outside
are portraits of Mr. John Labouchere the founder
and of Mrs. Labouchere.

ADVOWSONS

Capel was originally a chapelry of
Dorking. The chapel, which gives
its name to the parish, seems first
mentioned in a confirmation by Henry de Blois,
Bishop of Winchester 1129–71, of the grants of
churches, &c., given to the Priory of Lewes by the
Earls of Warenne. He confirms to them 'Ecclesiam
de Dorking cum Capella de la Wachna.' The charter
is witnessed by Robert, Archdeacon of Surrey, who
witnessed the charter of Henry to Waverley in
1130. (fn. 32) This seems to be Capel; for in 1361 Adam
atte Plesshette granted land which had been held by
Edith Pipestre of the grant of Maurice de Ewekne
lying in the parish 'Capelle de Ewekene,' along with
land in Ockley at Henhurst which is on the border
of Capel. (fn. 33) In Pope Nicholas's taxation of 1291
'Dorking cum Capella' is the style of Dorking
parish; so that it would appear that Capel became
first called a separate parish between 1291 and 1361.
This was possibly about 1334–7, when the church of
Dorking with Capel was transferred from Lewes
Priory to Reigate Priory, just founded by the last
Earl of Warenne and Surrey. (fn. 34) The tithes of Capel
were let immediately afterwards; (fn. 35) and the whole
revenue was entirely at the disposal of the priory, and
was granted to Lord William Howard with Reigate
Priory at the Dissolution. The lay impropriator henceforth paid what he chose to the curate-in-charge of
Capel. This state of things existed until 1868, when
an endowment was raised by neighbouring landowners.

Charles Lord Howard of Effingham, son of Lord
William Howard, leased the rectory, as it was called,
and possibly the advowson also, to John Cowper, 28
May 1587. Julian Cowper, John's widow, conveyed
to Richard Cowper, John's nephew and eventual
heir, in 1603. (fn. 36) The Cowpers of Temple Elfold
in Capel conveyed the lease to other persons for terms
of years only, and in 1644 Mr. Richard Cowper had
the advowson, and engaged in a lively controversy
with the Committee of Plundered Ministers, declining to pay anybody else than the Rev. John Allen,
whom they had removed. (fn. 37) He carried his point,
and though the committee kept the man of their
choice, they had to pay him out of the estates of the
Chapter of Winchester. (fn. 38) But for an interval, while
the controversy was proceeding, Capel baptisms and
burials were performed at Newdigate, there being no
parson in Capel. In 1660 the Cowper leases expired, and the rectory of Capel was, with others, confirmed to the Earl of Peterborough, as heir of Lord
William Howard. (fn. 39) His daughter Mary sold in 1677 to
Sir John Parsons. The widow of his son Humphrey
settled it on her daughter Anne, wife of Sir John
Hynde Cotton. In 1766 they sold to John Rogers for
£5,700, subject to the payment of £20 a year to the
curate. He died 1778, leaving it to his wife, who
married secondly William Chivers, to whom it was
conveyed. William Chivers died 1805, when it
descended to his nephew Noah Chivers, who conveyed in 1812 to the Duke of Norfolk. His heir
sold in 1844 to Charles Webb, who died 1869,
leaving his property in trust; and the advowson and
rectory are now in the hands of his trustees. (fn. 40)

Coldharbour is an ecclesiastical district formed in
1850 under 7 & 8 Vict. cap. 94, from portions of the
parishes of Capel, Dorking, Wotton, and Ockley.

The living is in the gift of the trustees of Mr.
John Labouchere.

CHARITIES

Smith's Charity is distributed as in
other Surrey parishes.

Capel Cottage Hospital was built
by the widow of the Rev. John Broadwood in 1864.
It is maintained chiefly by public subscription.

In 1871 Mr. Charles Webb of Clapham was commemorated by his family in the building of almshouses for six aged couples.

Mr. Thomas Summers, of Horsham, left £100 in
1807, which was invested in 3 per cent. consols.
The income provides bread for the poor (see Droking
also). The vicar and churchwardens of Capel, who
were trustees of Smith's and Summers' Charity,
obtained leave from the Charity Commissioners to
devote the funds to a more useful purpose, the bread
having been distributed among a large number of
people quite well able to provide for themselves, or
given to the poor in such quantities that they could
not consume it while it was good. All the bakers in
the parish had to be employed, and the baker in
Coldharbour (q.v.) sent bread three miles and a half
to Capel, which was given to the Coldharbour people
who had walked the same distance to receive it, and
who carried it back to a hundred yards from where it
was baked. The Parish Council, however, on becoming manager of parochial charities restored the bread
dole.

Footnotes

1. Manning and Bray, Surr. i, 570, curiously misdescribed Anstie Farm as 'at the
foot of the hill southward,' confusing it
with Kitlands.

28. The chapel mentioned in the confirmation of Henry of Blois (see advowson) must have been a timber building,
erected perhaps earlier in the 12th century, and probably it would be much
smaller than the stone chapel that succeeded it.

29. Possibly the projecting stones were
left to prevent the door being lifted bodily
off its hinges.

30. In this they recall the lancets of
the chancel at Chipstead, where the internal heads are gabled or triangular in
form.

31. As at Beddington, Great Bookham, West Clandon, Frensham, Merstham, Mickleham, Seale, and Worplesdon in
Surrey; and many others in Kent, Sussex, Middlesex, &c.

33. Charter in possession of the late
Rev. T. R. O'Fflahertie, Vicar of Capel.
Compare Manning and Bray, Surr. iii,
App. cxxx; 'land in the parishes of
Dorking and Ewekenes' in a charter of
1481. 'Ewekenes,' now usually spelt
Eutons, is a farm in Capel; there are remains of a moat near it.

34. Winton Epis. Reg. Orlton, i, fol.
57 d. But in 1508 it was still called a
chapel of Dorking.